How much do you know about polar bears?
Snow white soft cute? Cute and cute? Hunting up to "bears"? A good swimmer?
Image credit: Tenor
Then you also know that polar bears are actually dark-skinned, and their fur is translucent, only white because of the reflection of visible light;
The world's largest land carnivore, weighing up to ten human adults;
Less than 2% chance of successful hunting, although spending about half of one's life looking for food and having a super sense of smell can smell prey up to a kilometer away;
In addition to reaching speeds of up to 6 mph in the water, polar bears can swim long distances and stably for hours.
Did you know that polar bears rely heavily on sea ice, including travel, hunting, resting, and mating, which is a necessity for them? And as global warming causes sea ice to decrease, these animals are expected to be endangered by the end of the century.
Image credit: Giphy
Rising global temperatures and extreme changes in climate and weather patterns continue to threaten the world's biodiversity, especially for polar animals such as polar bears that rely on sea ice for food or survive. The survival and protection of polar bear habitat is also a long-standing and urgent issue for many environmental protection organizations around the world.
As sea ice shrinks, some populations appear to have reached their survival limits.
Image credit: MakeAGIF
But recently, scientists have discovered a genetically unique, isolated population of polar bears in southeastern Greenland. They have limited access to sea ice, but they survive and instead use freshwater ice provided by the Greenland Ice Sheet, also known as continental glaciers.
What's going on?
1. New polar bear populations are discovered
Greenland Island
Image credit: CNN
Located in North America, Greenland is the largest island in the world, with most of the arctic circle and a cold climate.
On Thursday, the journal Science published a study of polar bears in Greenland.
Kristin Laidre, a polar research scientist at the University of Washington's Applied Physics Laboratory, said in a statement: "We wanted to investigate this area because we know so much about polar bears in southeastern Greenland
"Based on historical records and knowledge of the local cultural background, we know that there are some polar bears in the area. We just don't know how special they are. ”
Greenland's polar bears
Image credit: CNN
From the 19 known populations of polar bears, it can be determined that polar bears rely on or even rely on sea ice to hunt prey, such as ringed seals, which find the seal's breathing hole in the ice and then wait for the seal to surface to catch it.
Image credit: Pinterest
And global warming is causing sea ice to melt and disappear rapidly, as the Arctic is warming more than twice as fast as the rest of the planet. When the sea ice disappears, polar bears have to move on land, which reduces their access to food.
Meanwhile, polar bears in southeastern Greenland tend to "stay near home", adapting in unique ways to changing environments. At first glance, conditions in southeastern Greenland seem unlikely to be a long-term habitat for polar bears, as sea ice has been around for less than a third of a year. Because the region is far to the south, sea ice cover only lasts about 100 days a year.
And, because of the Greenland ice sheet, mountains, open waters and rushing ocean currents, they are forced to isolate themselves from the rest of the world and become the loneliest polar bear colonies. This population has been isolated from other polar bear populations off the east coast of Greenland for at least 200 years.
Image credit: CNN
But they are also exposed to more freshwater ice under limited sea ice, which helps them get used to hunting in unusual conditions.
The researchers say that while the polar bear population is expected to decline significantly, the findings offer a silver lining.
Image credit: Pinterest
Greenland polar bears can use sea ice between February and the end of May. For the rest of the day, they used freshwater ice to break away from continental glaciers to hunt seals.
"Polar bears are threatened by melting sea ice due to climate change. This new population gives us a new understanding of how the species will live in the future. Laidre said: "But we need to be careful when extrapolating this finding, because the glacial ice that allows polar bears in southeastern Greenland to survive is absent in most parts of the Arctic." ”
The environment in southeastern Greenland is a unique small-scale climate refuge where polar bears can survive, but rarely exists in other regions.
2. Uncertain future
Image source: frontiers
Researchers believe that polar bears in southeastern Greenland have evolved in this rare environment for hundreds of years. According to the study authors, the earliest known mention of bears in the region dates back to the 13th century, and the first written record of bears in the fjords of the region dates back to the 1830s.
The presence of this small population of polar bears in the context of low sea ice cover suggests that the species still has a chance to survive even as sea ice recedes farther north each year.
Kristin
Laidre
"This small group of genetically distinct bears can reveal how polar bears survive as an Arctic species in the ice-free Arctic."
But the future of polar bears remains unknown. Laidre said the researchers don't know if the population is stable, whether it's increasing or decreasing, and more observations are needed to reveal the future of this unique population.
Kristin
Laidre
"Protecting the genetic diversity of polar bears is critical under climate change." Laidre said that "the official recognition of these bears as a separate population is very important for conservation and management." ”
At the same time, arctic sea ice continues to decline, which greatly reduces the survival rate of most future polar bear populations.
"Climate action is the only key factor in determining the future of polar bears."
Image credit: USAtoday
Another study, published in Nature Climate Change, suggests that with high greenhouse gas emissions, it is likely that all polar bear populations will decline by 2100. Even if modest emission reduction targets are achieved, a herd will disappear.
The findings are consistent with previous predictions that if climate change persists, only a small population of polar bears in the far north will survive until 2100.
"Melted" polar bears?
Image credit: giphy
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